All posts tagged Cranberry

After waking up and pouring out stockings on Christmas morning, I hopped downstairs to bake up some scones for us to munch on while opening presents. It was a wonderful Christmas and I couldn’t be happier with all the gifts I received (including a gorgeous, shiny, black KitchenAid mixer, a food processor, a hand mixer, pans, and a beautiful light blue apron which I never plan on taking off). These cranberry scones were the perfect start to the day and I haven’t stopped nibbling on them since.

5 tbsp chilled Country Crock Light butter spread (I put mine in a freezer overnight, if you use a stick of butter rather than a spread, cut it into small pieces)

1/2 cup fat-free milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg white

1/3 cup dried cranberries

To brush on top of scones:

2 tsp fat-free milk

2 tsp demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Combine 1/2 cup milk, vanilla, and egg white in a bowl. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be soft). Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle surface of dough with dried cranberries and knead with floured hands just until incorporated. (You want handle dough as little as possible in order to keep your scones from becoming too dense.)

Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on prepared cookie sheet. Cut dough into 12 wedges, cutting into, but not through, dough. Brush 2 teaspoons milk over surface of dough; sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 17 minutes or until golden. Serve warm, or cool on a wire rack.

These cookies are flavored with homemade macadamia nut butter and dotted with dried cranberries; an instant holiday favorite, at least around my house. They’re also lighter than a lot of cookies because the moisture comes from the ground macadamia nuts and a single egg rather than butter. Mmmm.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a food processor, make a nut butter by processing macadamia nuts until very smooth (like runny peanut butter). In a mixing bowl, combine nut butter and sugars. Add vanilla and egg and beat well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to other ingredients and beat until just combined. Stir in cranberries. The dough will be quite thick; cover and chill for ten minutes.

Roll dough into one-inch balls and place on prepared cookie sheets, two inches apart. Press balls gently with a fork twice to form a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 9 minutes or until just golden (it’s okay if they look a little underdone). Let cool briefly and then transfer off of cookie sheets to cool completely.